Stuff about me
My name is Keith Michaud and this is “Letters From Away,” a blog written by a Mainer living outside the comfortable and sane confines of New England. The blog is intended for Mainers, whether they live in the Pine Tree State or beyond, and for anyone who has loved ’em, been baffled by ’em or both. Ayuh, I am “from away.” Worse still, I live on the Left Coast – in California. Enjoy! Or not. Your choice.
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Tag Archives: electricity
Farmers find friends indeed: Volunteers step up for a Gorham family after high winds blow down their barn | The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram
[Tornadoes are not particularly common in Maine, but they are not unheard of either. A couple of them went through southern Maine the other day. One touched down in Gorham, home of the University of Southern Maine. A woman who lives nearby with whom I went to USM says the campus was not hit, but there was quite a bit of damage elsewhere. This link goes to the story and has a link to reader submitted photos. It must have been a very frightening experience for the people who live there. — KM]
Farmers find friends indeed | The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram.
UMPI windmill ‘a great decision’ | Bangor Daily News
UMPI windmill ‘a great decision’ | Bangor Daily News
[In high school I played in a baseball playoff game hosted at the university baseball field near where this turbine was built. If that day was any indication of what the wind is like there normally, the windmill was put in just the right place. It was so windy that day that we could barely hit the ball out of the infield. More universities – more communities, more hospitals, more government buildings should consider wind power, solar power, and other alternative energy sources. – KM]
Live data on the turbine can be found at www.umpi.edu/wind; click on “Live Turbine Data.”
Cape Wind receives federal approval for first offshore wind farm | SustainableBusiness.com News
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar on Wednesday approved the Cape Wind offshore wind farm, completing the last regulatory step for the project which was first propsed for Nantucket Sound about eight years ago.
The project has been delayed throughout the permitting process by opposition from coastal residents who fear the wind turbines, which will be erected five miles from shore, will devalue coastal properties and affect tourism.
Salzar said the developer of the $1 billion wind farm must agree to additional measures to minimize the potential adverse impacts of construction and operation of the facility.
“After careful consideration of all the concerns expressed during the lengthy review and consultation process and thorough analyses of the many factors involved, I find that the public benefits weigh in favor of approving the Cape Wind project at the Horseshoe Shoal location,” Salazar said in an announcement at the State House in Boston. “With this decision we are beginning a new direction in our Nation’s energy future, ushering in America’s first offshore wind energy facility and opening a new chapter in the history of this region.”
The Cape Wind project is expected to be the first wind farm on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf, generating enough power to meet 75 percent of the electricity demand for Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Island combined.
Click on the link to read the rest of the SustainableBusiness.com press release.
The Economics of Wind: What’s behind the interest, and what’s it mean for jobs | Lewiston Sun Journal
[I’m a wind-power proponent in that I strongly believe we need to greatly reduce our foreign oil addiction. And we need to find a much more environmentally friendly energy source. Below is the top section of the first part of a two-part series by the Lewiston Sun Journal on wind energy. I intend to link the second part tomorrow, whether either part supports my beliefs or not. It is an important issue and an important time for energy in Maine. So, it is important to have as much information as possible, even if you or I do not want to know that information. – KM]
Sun Journal Editor’s note: This is the first of a two-part series. The second part will run on Monday, April 12.
As Maine inches toward its goal of more wind power development, the financial justifications for and against are almost as hard to grasp as the wind itself.
Environmental activist Jonathan Carter, for example, wrote in a recent newspaper opinion piece that up to 60 percent of the cost of wind power projects is covered by federal subsidies. That figure’s important, with wind power opponents saying wind shouldn’t rely on high government subsidies and proponents saying it deserves the same treatment as other energy suppliers.
When asked, Carter pointed to National Wind Watch as the source of his information.
National Wind Watch pointed to a semi-retired former coal official in Virginia.
When the Sun Journal contacted that man, he pointed to a Los Angeles lawyer who works with wind farm developers … and his math, it turns out, isn’t so clear-cut.
Click on the link for the rest of today’s story by Kathryn Skelton in the Lewiston Sun Journal.
Posted in Economy, Energy, Environment, Maine, Outdoors, Politics and government
Tagged Bangor Hydro Electric Co., Center for Workforce Research and Information, Central Maine Power Co., electricity, employment, federal subsidies, First Wind, jobs, Kibby Mountain, Maine Department of Labor, Maine Public Utilities Commission, National Wind Watch, ports, ratepayers, turbines, University of Southern Maine's Muskie School of Public Service, wind energy, wind mills, wind power, work ethic
Letters From Away 